Abstract
The extent of farmer knowledge and availability of precise information in farming are considered as key driving forces in agriculture development that transform the livelihoods of farmers into one with increased household income stability and food security. However farmers who do not have free/subsidized and open/fair access to the vital agricultural information would, therefore, face severe difficulties in their attempt to achieve the goals of farming. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that trigger or hinder farmer access to agricultural knowledge and information. The smallholder export agricultural crop producers in Kandy & Kurunegala districts in Sri Lanka were used as the case. A series of pre-tested structured questionnaire-based face-to-face interviews were carried out with a cross-section of farmers to gather data and both descriptive and quantitative techniques, including Factor and Logistics Regression analysis, were employed to analyze the data. The results show that the level of acquisition of agricultural knowledge by farmers has a positive and negative relationship with the level of education and age of farmer, respectively. Amongst other factors, the farmers, in general, requested badly the valid and reliable agricultural information on a regular basis with regard to the market prices of inputs and outputs, credits/subsidies/loans etc. The inadequacy in information services and agricultural officers, limited infrastructure and insufficient funds/resources hinder farmer access to agricultural knowledge and information. The outcome of the analysis, overall, implies that the importance of developing appropriate packages to facilitate information sharing and knowledge mobilization to specific farming communities is in need with the right mix of market-based and regulatory incentives.
Highlights
Knowledge and information are vital in rural farm development, access to agricultural knowledge is the key for transforming the livelihoods of rural poor into a one with increased income stability and food security (Lwoga et al, 2011).Knowledge is filtered from information, or in other words, information is connected to knowledge through the data–information– knowledge hierarchy (Frické, 2009)
The results show that the level of acquisition of agricultural knowledge by farmers has a positive and negative relationship with the level of education and age of farmer, respectively
Based on the literature referring to the previous studies on this area, the following conceptual framework (Figure 1) was constructed that depicts the relationship between a number of factors that govern farmer access to agricultural information, including their demographic and perceptions, market information and accessibility and the information repository issues
Summary
Knowledge and information are vital in rural farm development, access to agricultural knowledge is the key for transforming the livelihoods of rural poor into a one with increased income stability and food security (Lwoga et al, 2011).Knowledge is filtered from information, or in other words, information is connected to knowledge through the data–information– knowledge hierarchy (Frické, 2009). Knowledge and information are vital in rural farm development, access to agricultural knowledge is the key for transforming the livelihoods of rural poor into a one with increased income stability and food security (Lwoga et al, 2011). Farmer empowerment needs to starts with information because it plays a pivotal role in increasing agricultural production and improving marketing and distribution strategies (Rehman et al, 2013). Access to agricultural knowledge and information is vital for acquiring the skills and techniques required to improve farming practices, sustaining the environment and to optimize agricultural production. According to Mtega et al (2016), the limited number of demonstration plots, late delivery of information services, a limited number of agricultural extension agents, limited information about crop market and poor information communication technologies (ICTs) hindered access to agricultural knowledge among rice farmers in Tanzania. According to Mtega et al (2016), the limited number of demonstration plots, late delivery of information services, a limited number of agricultural extension agents, limited information about crop market and poor information communication technologies (ICTs) hindered access to agricultural knowledge among rice farmers in Tanzania. Lwevo et al (2014) mentioned that the cultural factors (i.e. language, religion, gender, etc.) influence access to agricultural extension while language was the key influential cultural factor
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